


When Autumn Comes

by LamentingQuill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 21:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/626873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamentingQuill/pseuds/LamentingQuill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A posthumous letter from Albus to Minerva.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Autumn Comes

**Author's Note:**

> The poem is my original, and is copyright me! Please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. The rest, of course, still belongs to Rowling! xD

**When Autumn Comes**

by

_Lamenting Quill_

* * *

 

_My Dearest Minerva,_

_If your sparkling eyes are upon these words, then I have departed from this world of fools. I am embarking on the greatest journey man has pondered since the beginning of time; the journey of death. I may not have had the chance to tell you goodbye, but if I possessed one breath to utter one word, I hope it was your ears that heard._

_Oh, my sweet Minerva. My hand will now tell you what my lips could not, for never did I reveal to you what I so longed to every day that passed. You have been many things to me throughout the years: first my student, then my colleague and friend, my successor, my sanity to say the least. You were my constant, the one thing in my life that was unchanging. When everyone else turned their faces from me over things they did not understand, even though you did not understand either, you looked at me with loyal eyes, and spoke to others with loyal lips. You were everything to me, everything but that which I wanted you to be the most – mine._

_Perhaps had times been different we could have had the life that I often dreamed about. But as it were, war marred most of our lives, and the school required our attention the most. I don’t know if you ever felt more than friendship for me, but know that I loved you, silently and deeply I loved you. It is on an old fool’s thin and ragged hope that I wonder if perhaps you loved me, too. If so, I am sorry things couldn’t be better, I am sorry I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be. Just know that I wanted it, too._

_It is with teary eyes and deep regret for what we lost yet never had that I write unto you now. I left you my heart long ago, you were just not aware of my doing so. Now, however, I leave you with these words, words that you never heard, but I ask that you imagine it is my voice reading them to you; I ask you to grant me this wish, even if my feelings you do not return. When you read these words I am about to write, know that I mean each one, and with each new phrase a fresh tear falls, as I wish I had been brave enough to say them aloud._

_The years went by, unstopping;_

_As dried leaves from the trees,_

_And I watched with longing eyes,_

_As they drifted in the breeze;_

_Each one different, a masterpiece,_

_Yet their lustre had faded away._

_Each one with a story to tell,_

_Of a brighter, simpler day._

_But as they danced and swirled,_

_And crumbled ‘neath wand’ring feet,_

_They knew not how it all would end,_

_What dreaded fates they’d meet._

_When all is said and done,_

_They cannot be revived,_

_Never again to be united,_

_To the tree, on which, they thrived._

_Oh! To have those years I wasted!_

_The many leaves I let drift by!_

_They’ve turned sheer and thin as paper,_

_Yet they cannot dry these tears I cry._

_I rake them up with trembling hands,_

_Then jump within the pile,_

_Playing in the precious memories-_

_The memories of your smile._

_Each glance, each brush of fingers,_

_Left me wishing it could be more,_

_That we could escape the sea of friendship,_

_For Love’s glistening, golden shore!_

_Yet I let the waves seal my lips,_

_While my wounds filled up with salt;_

_And while the pain was deep and lingering,_

_It was my own, the fool’s, fault._

_So, my love, when autumn comes,_

_And your eyes turn to the sky;_

_Take notice of the lonely trees,_

_And the leaves that pass you by._

_For in those leaves of dusty splendour,_

_Painted, flawless, brown with age,_

_Rests my unspoken vows of love,_

_That even death could not assuage!_

_My dearest Minerva, please remember me fondly in your memories, as I forever thought of you in mine._

_Yours,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

 


End file.
